A new contract.
Yang was smiling in satisfaction as she looked at it.
Around my neck, another new red collar had been fastened.
I worried that it might choke me.
But the moment Yang opened one eye and asked how it felt, the collar stopped tightening and vanished.
“I-it’s all right.”
Saying I was fine, I awkwardly scratched my head.
Yang smiled softly at that, then closed her eyes again.
Then she told me to go back to my seat and read the contract over slowly.
I nodded and slowly read through the contract I had already signed.
[Additional Contract.]
[1. The upper limit of the degree of adaptation shall be restricted.]
[2. If clause 1 fails, report immediately once the contract has loosened to some extent.]
[3. The contents of the first contract shall be reset and applied in a strengthened form.]
[4. Upon the next additional contract, the current contract shall be annulled and a new contract shall be entered.]
The contents were quite simple.
Rather than binding me, it felt more like a contract meant to supplement the previous one.
I tilted my head, wondering if something like this was really enough.
Then Yang asked if there was something I didn’t like.
I said no and waved my hands, and she smiled gently before sitting back down.
“By the way… Section Chief So, I wish you would come by a little more often.”
“Why?”
“Hehe… Just because?”
Yang smiled as she said that.
Looking at her, I asked a question.
“Um, Yang……”
“Yes?”
“You’re also a pet… anomaly, right?”
When I said that, Yang nodded and said that she was.
So I asked one more question.
“Then… how did you make a contract…? Aren’t you supposed to make it yourself?”
At that, Yang smiled and said that, of course, she had made it and completed the contract all on her own.
When I flinched in surprise, Yang smiled and said she had been surprised too, then continued.
“I was surprised as well, you know? It was absolute enough to bind even myself… so I wondered how you managed to escape it.”
Yang looked at me with intrigued eyes.
When I was startled by that, Senior Yeonu, who had approached my side at some point, sighed and spoke.
“…She’s the Research Section’s pet anomaly.”
“Ah……”
“Now you understand.”
“Yeonu, you’re still so harsh.”
Yang smiled as she said that.
Senior Yeonu clicked her tongue once and looked down at Yang with a cold gaze.
“So what?”
“Oh my… You’re still like that? You were so warm to Sion, so I thought you’d gotten better by now……”
Yang said, looking slightly surprised.
At that, Senior Yeonu replied as if annoyed.
“That one’s human.”
“Pardon…?”
“For now.”
For now, I was human.
It wasn’t wrong, but something about it felt strange, so I didn’t react at all and merely broke out in a cold sweat.
“That’s enough of the power struggle. Let’s go now. Thanks, Yang.”
“Goodbye, everyone from Action Section 1.”
Yang bowed politely as she said that.
Her horns were rather grotesque, but she seemed to have a warm personality, so I smiled softly.
* * *
The office of Action Section 1.
There, Minjun and the Watcher were staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Miss Watcher.”
“…Why do you call me?”
“How far away does this sight have to get before it’s released?”
“Until this lady dies… I can see it.”
“Oh……”
Minjun let out an exclamation of admiration.
The Watcher smiled and asked if it was not amazing.
“Is it not amazing?”
“…It is amazing.”
“By the way, did you not fail to prove your absorption ability?”
The Watcher asked.
At that, Minjun said, “Ah…” then told her that he had seen scales appear on his arm, so it had been proven.
“Hooh……”
“I guess it got tougher.”
“I suppose it did.”
The two of them were snickering together when—
“I-I’m back…!”
Sion, who had returned after completing the new contract, bowed deeply to the two of them.
* * *
After returning to the office, we started working.
We had gone through quite a few crises, but not much had changed in our office.
Senior Minjun had lost his eyes, but he was still as cheeky as ever and sometimes grinned at me.
And the last thing that had changed was that Senior Yeonu now existed to frown at him when he did.
“…S-senior.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“…Do you not hate me?”
When I asked that, she thought for a moment, then smiled and shook her head.
“I do hate you?”
“…Th-then why.”
“Because I’m sorry…?”
She said it as though she wasn’t sure herself.
Thinking that I really shouldn’t get too close to this person, I shifted slightly to the side.
Then she asked why I was moving away and told me to come over beside her.
“…Ugh.”
“Ugh?”
“N-nothing…!!”
When I said that, thoroughly frightened, her face returned to a slightly expressionless state. Then she smiled awkwardly and apologized to me.
“I’m sorry.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“Anomaly…?”
“I’m not.”
She sighed and said she really was sorry.
She said there had been a misunderstanding, and that she had wondered a hundred times whether I was something mimicking a human, then slowly stroked my head.
“You still seem like an anomaly, though.”
“…My body probably is.”
“What’s inside is a person, so it’s fine.”
After saying that, Senior Yeonu showed me the research results on the Masked Owl.
“Want to read it? For now, it’s the one you and I caught.”
“…!!”
“What’s with that face?”
Senior Yeonu smiled playfully as she said that and showed me the report.
It contained rather gruesome scenes.
There were photos of them cutting open the Masked Owl’s stomach and looking for the part where the owl came out.
A hollow space behind the spilling organs.
There were no reproductive organs or anything of the sort, just a space that was literally like a void.
And when they reached a hand into it and pulled it back out, a white egg came out.
“…That’s disgusting.”
“The Bureau does have that side to it… somewhat.”
Senior Yeonu said I’d have to get used to it and closed the report.
“After that, it apparently recovered completely, so they locked it in a containment space similar to a forest.”
“…I-I see.”
“If you want to see it, you can go. They say the sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard weakens the entity, so they keep it playing nonstop.”
“I don’t want to go……”
Thinking that even if I had wanted to go, that would have killed the desire, I resolved never to approach it and awkwardly scratched my head.
Somehow, it felt like I had finally found the place where I belonged.
I seemed to have gotten somewhat close to the Watcher as well.
The section chief always took good care of me.
Senior Yeonu also seemed like she would take good care of me from now on.
Senior Minjun probably wouldn’t torment me for a while either.
After all, Senior Yeonu was here, and the higher-ups had been informed that my mind was completely identical to a human’s.
‘…Still, I can’t get used to it……’
Thinking that, I slowly closed my eyes.
* * *
A dark street.
The cold air drifting through it made it impossible to tell whether there were lights nearby or not.
And down that street walked a drunkard.
“…Hic! Ugh… I’m drunk.”
An older man with a bottle of soju at his mouth and his necktie tied around his head staggered down the street.
The cold air touched his skin.
Even as he hunched his body, the man did not stop drinking.
“It’s cold, so cold…!! Hic! Ugh, I must’ve gone out without turning on the boiler…!”
Saying that, the man lay down on a park bench as if it were the sofa in his living room.
And a presence slowly approached, targeting him.
Step, step.
The sound of footsteps drew closer to him, but he was already dead drunk and heard nothing at all.
The cold air approached.
It slowly swallowed the light, letting its hair hang down before him as it came closer, slowly, ever so slowly.
The man did not notice.
Just a few seconds.
That would have been enough for him to realize.
If he had been even a little less drunk, he would have run away at once.
But the man could not do that.
And because he was in no state to do so, he became prey.
As though it were no different from fate.
“How do I look?”
The anomaly stood before him.
And asked a question.
How do I look?
At that, the older man suddenly came to his senses.
“…!!”
Before his eyes stood a tall woman in a coat, her hair hanging down.
He could not see her face.
Even so, the woman asked how she looked.
‘…What is this? A nightmare?’
Thinking that, the man looked around.
There was nothing to be seen nearby.
Only the streetlamp shining on him and the bench he was lying on.
The surroundings were swallowed in complete darkness and could not be perceived at all.
And so, the man thought.
‘It’s a dream.’
All of this was a dream.
Sometimes, thinking something was a dream gave a person courage.
And for the older man, that moment was now.
“You’re asking how you look, miss?”
“...”
The anomaly said nothing.
After hesitating for a moment, the man gulped down the soju in his hand, then answered.
“Wow, you’re pretty, real pretty!! Ahaha… I’ve fallen for you, you know? What, are you asking because you want to give me your number? Kuhahaha.”
After saying that, the man laughed heartily.
At that, the woman before him smiled softly.
“I’m… pre…tty...?”
“Yeah, I told you so how many ti—”
That was the end of the man’s answer.
Slice!!!!
His ear was cut off and fell in an instant.
“…What… the hell is this……”
The man said, grabbing his own ear in his hand.
Only then did the pain come flooding in.
The sensation of hot liquid flowing down.
When the man brought his hand to the left side of his head, it was quickly soaked in bright red blood.
His shock lasted only a moment.
“Pre…tty?”
“…!!!!!”
The anomaly before him revealed her face.
The anomaly looked down at him with a hideous face.
The man’s memories ended there.
The air cleared.
The street regained its warmth and light.